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Joe Biden: The Rise of an Empty Man

On the morning of the inauguration, according to news and eyewitness reports, the streets near Georgetown University were blocked by a fleet of limousines and police on motorcycles. It was for Joe Biden, attending Mass on campus at Dahlgren Chapel. It was a sign that would now mark the presence of Joseph Biden, the risen Joe Biden, ascending to a post of high honorifics. Bereft of both knowledge and wisdom, he will nevertheless stand in the high councils of state, with an entourage of cars flashing lights to herald his progress.

The cars assembled at their post conveyed a message, as inescapable as it was portentous: Here, in a chapel, affecting to be in communion with his Church, is a man who has trumpeted his rejection of the most central moral teachings of the Church. During the presidential campaign he offered, as one of the prime accomplishments in his political life, that he helped to defeat the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court. With that stroke he managed to preserve, unimpaired, the right to kill an unborn child at every stage of its life. We have had a sense of what it means to “give scandal” or to misinstruct the faithful about the teachings of their own Church. But now it is done even more dramatically, with the presence of limousines to convey the point: that you can be a prime defender of the right to abortion at every stage and for any reason – nay, you can even exult in public for your achievements in securing that “right” – and still be a “good Catholic.”

As one of millions of men and women in the world who love and respect VP Biden, I say "Bless you Joe Biden, and thank you. You are truly a brave individual."

The classical virtue of bravery or fortitude is ordered to the good that is difficult to achieve. Since the actions of Joe Biden described here are not ordered to the good, but rather to evil, then it follows that Joe Biden does not possess said virtue.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit known as bravery or fortitude is ordered to the defense of the faith in the face of suffering and persecution. Since the actions of Joe Biden described here are not ordered to the defense of the faith, but rather to undermining it, then it follows that Joe Biden does not possess said Gift of the Holy Spirit.

Since both natural and supernatural sources of virtue have now been eliminated, one must conclude that Joe Biden does not possess the virtue of bravery at all.

There are those who're being conformed to image of the Lord, having their minds renewed to experience the world through "eyes that see", and "ears that hear". The pro-life view, and in fact the official Roman Catholic view is clearly consistent with the mind of Christ and Bible. I say woe to those who call evil good and good evil--Joe Biden!

aristocles, I have a scripture for you. Proverbs 25:26 "{Like} a trampled spring and a polluted well Is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked." What if the Church doesn't "remove the wicked man from among you"? As a Reformed believer, I thought that the Roman Church was solidly enforcing this clear issue, and when I've written my local supposed Catholic political representatives [Lou Correa, Loretta Sanchez etc..] to call them out on the disobedience they display, I just figured that they weren't even attending Mass. It turns out I'm wrong, they are, like Biden, to the shame of Catholics everywhere. True believers everywhere would do well to demand that the shepherds protect the flock especially in such a prominent case as the VP.

I believe Catholics like Biden will simply do to such issued communications of condemnation dispatched from Rome as Fr. Luther did with his (namely, Exurge Domine) -- burn it and continue still with their disobedience but, perhaps, even more profoundly.

In other words, we've reached a point where it would become merely an exercise in sheer futility.

Considering how many Catholics commit flagrant disobedience against the Church these days (even on a daily basis), to render such acts of penalty against each and every one of these (as well as for every time) would, in the end, simply result in robbing them of their overall effectiveness. In other words, such pursuit of penalty should best be kept reserved for the notoriously dissident under the worst case offences in order to preserve whatever efficacy that remains therein.

Hi aristocles, unless I misread you [not just from this thread, but also from 2 or so months of visiting this blog], this answer simply wont do-nor should it. That is why I quoted the Proverb for you, to encourage your warrior spirit to say it like it is.

One huge difference between Luther and Biden and the others you reluctantly leave alone is that they dont make their case with the scriptures. I wish/pray for the unity of the visible body of Christ, I regret that the Eastern Church found reason to separate, I regret that the Reformation had to happen. The fact that Protestant denominations are splintered, as are Roman Catholic [in practice, it appears] is not a sign of disobedience per se, it could be honest disagreement with interpretation--in good conscience. At some point, orthodoxy does become an issue to separate, which sadly, is why Roman Catholic and Reformed will never unite unless huge issues are resolved.

I have one question for you though, how much leaven is ok with you in your Church?

You seem to be of the mistaken opinion that the Catholic Church is okay with the actions of Biden et al.

I should think that much of the communications (be they written or oral) issued hitherto not only by the church at Rome but by even the Bishops of the American church would categorically say otherwise.

Of course, it might very well be because I follow news concerning the Church more particularly than the average individual who are more often prey to the excrement of spin doctors and mass media harlots of this day, for which I would simply enjoin on you to simply beware.

Ari,
It is a sign of hope that so many people outside the Church expend a great deal of energy and emotion on her internal affairs. The libertine Left creates a fallacious narrative about a German Pope's "rehabilitation" of a holocaust-denier and rages endlessly. Ex-Catholics and theological dissenters on the Right demand she excommunicate the pro-abortion politicians within her walls...now!

This phenomenon is more than enemies in the culture wars seeking to administer a black eye, while allies offer well meaning, if impatient counsel. In each case, there is an implicit recognition that the Church holds a moral authority that no other institution can claim. As the effects of soft tyranny become more widely felt, a corresponding acknowledgment of the Church's unique role as the counter-weight to Power will grow more explicit. And that means "the abolition of man" is far from inevitable.

Hi aristocles, I may be guilty of ignorance of the process where church discipline takes place, but I'm pretty sure that I have understood that the actions of Biden are contrary to clear statements by "Rome" and the "Bishops of the American church".

Contrary to Kevin's view of my interest in this matter, I truly am seeking some understading of your church. I dont quite get it--all of the talk of unity and a church government heiarchy for the sake of purity and truth as an authority with not much discipline to go with the talk. I dont get the double speak on the serious theological issues much of it for what appears to me to be a vain attempt to preserve papal integrity. In you[aristocles], I've seen someone who's spoken sharply against those who would defame the church, and then you seem to throw your hands up [Feb. 3,& 5 posts], in surrender. I only wanted to encourage you to fight on because there are not many warriors for righteousness--not giving in to cultural pressure to conform the Church of God to popular fleeting tastes--and not apologizing for standing firm for truth.

Like I asked earlier, how much leaven are you ok with in your church?

Pro. 27:6 "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy."

...a church government heiarchy for the sake of purity and truth as an authority with not much discipline to go with the talk.

The Church must take ever cautious steps in the doling out of more severe punishments (and you more than most Catholics should be able to appreciate this all the more as a Protestant) otherwise such frequent enactments of extreme measures over its people may very well be misperceived as a display of tyrannical power.

It is doing what I believe is prudential in that regard; that is, strongly opposing abortion and frequently speaking out against it, continuing to teach it as being an abominable evil that must be extinguished while trying to persuade those who would mistakenly support it, giving them the chance to come around instead of "excommunicating them and ipso facto damning them".

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